An electroacoustic device used to generate signals with specific waveforms. Common types of oscillators are sine wave, square wave, pulse, triangle wave and sawtooth wave oscillators, each distinguished by the shape of the waveform it produces. The oscillator was available as a source for sounds for tape music composition, and as the tone generator in self-contained musical instruments, but it was only with the development of voltage control that the oscillator was cast into a form suitable for both synthesis and live performance. Oscillators can be simulated digitally by storing one cycle of the waveform and repeating those values during sound synthesis. (Sources: Barry Truax - Handbook for Acoustic Ecology CD-ROM Edition. Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999 - CSR-CDR 9901. Richard Dobson (1992). A Dictionary of Electronic and Computer Music Technology. Oxford University Press.)